Answer any one of the following questions in about 120-150 words:

Edla's empathetic and compassionate behavior changed the life of the rat trap seller.Do you think that an act of kindness can change a person's view of the world?

OR

Maintaining a balance between one’s fantasies and the real world is the key to the survival . Give your opinion on Sophie’s character in the light of the above statement.

The act of kindness by Edla towards the peddler definitely changed his view towards the world. Edla had understood in the very first meeting that her father was mistaking someone else to be his acquaintance. She understood this since she had studied the peddler very keenly. She knew he was either a thief or an unreliable character; however, she persuaded him to accompany her to her house to spend the Christmas Eve with them.

Earlier the peddler used to think that the entire world is a big rattrap and that everything in life is a big bait. But Edla made him realize that she could see the real human being behind the fraud rattrap seller by bringing him to their house and asking him to participate in their family function. She also supported him when his identity was revealed. All this made the peddler see a very new side of the world. He began to realize that there are good people in the world too and that he must henceforth change his way of looking at the world.

OR

Maintaining a balance between one’s fantasies and the real world is definitely the key to the survival. Both dreaming and reality are required in one’s life. This is because, without the presence of dreams which one would want to transform into reality, human life will become aimless. So a balance between dreams and reality is definitely important.

Maintaining a balance is necessary for every sphere of life. In case of Sophie, it is between reality and fantasies. A balance is required everywhere. It is rightly said, ‘excess of anything is injurious to health’. Sophie here is extremely engrossed in her fancies. This has made her completely disconnected from reality. She doesn’t realize that her hero-worship is not in coherence with her socio-economic background. Her thoughts keep building castles in the air. She belonged to a family of meager means and resources where she could not afford to day dream and be lost in her reveries. In order to make her dreams become realities, she needed to work very hard, which she did not. She also took to telling lies and avoiding work. This made everybody distrust her and everyone wanted her to behave sensibly.